Welcome to the final #AKPumpkinWeek! It’s bittersweet, but after years of doing this, I’ve decided that pumpkin week has ultimately run its course. Don’t worry, I’ll still drop a pumpkin recipe here and there every year, and you can find all of my other fabulous pumpkin recipes here — everything from pastas and curries to muffins and cookies!
Of course, pumpkin week really wouldn’t be the same without a recipe from the muffin queen herself (AKA YOURS TRULY).
So, we’re kicking this week off with these gorgeous orange pumpkin muffins that are infused with brown butter, honey, pumpkin pie spices and finished off with an orange glaze. They’re exceptional and the ultimate treat to serve for brunch, or to just keep on hand when you need a snack.
FREE Pumpkin Recipe E-Book
Sign up below and get a FREE printable e-book with my best sweet and savory pumpkin recipes straight to your inbox!
Ingredients in orange pumpkin muffins
- Butter: in this recipe we’re browning some butter to make the muffins extra incredible. Feel free to use vegan butter or keep them dairy free by using coconut oil or light extra virgin olive oil.
- Pumpkin puree: you can use canned pumpkin puree or make your own using this tutorial! Or feel free to use butternut squash puree!
- Eggs: you’ll need 2 eggs in this recipe to keep the muffins fluffy. I have not tested them with flax eggs but let me know if you do!
- Honey: these pumpkin orange muffins are naturally sweetened with honey. You can also use pure maple syrup if you’d like.
- Orange juice & zest: we’re infusing these muffins with freshly squeezed orange juice and zest for that ultimate orange flavor. Remember to zest your oranges before squeezing them!
- Vanilla extract: for a little boost of flavor.
- Whole wheat pastry flour: using whole wheat pastry flour gives these muffins the perfect texture. You can also use white whole wheat flour or a ratio of ¾ cup whole wheat flour + 1 cup all purpose flour. See notes below for tips on trying gluten free flours.
- Baking soda & salt: so that these muffins bake up properly.
- Pumpkin spices: gotta have all of those cozy spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger & allspice.
- Optional: I love adding some dark chocolate chips to these muffins for an out-of-this-world flavor. Feel free to use any chocolate chips you’d like (or simply omit).
- For the glaze: the easy orange glaze is made with powdered sugar, orange juice & orange zest.
Customize these orange pumpkin muffins
- To make dairy free: feel free to use coconut oil, light extra virgin olive oil or vegan butter instead of butter.
- To make gluten free: I think a 1:1 gf all purpose flour would work well in these muffins. You may need to add a splash of milk to the batter if it feels stiff, as gluten free flours can sometimes be a little more dry. I also think that chickpea flour would work well, or possibly oat flour. Please know I have not tested these options, they are just suggestions!
- To make pumpkin chocolate chip muffins: Feel free to mix in ½ cup your favorite chocolate chips into the batter. I think dark chocolate chips would be amazing.
- More optional add-ins: these would be delicious with 1/2 cup chopped pecans or 1/2 cup chopped walnuts.
How to brown butter
Brown butter is my special ingredient for making these orange pumpkin muffins taste extra rich and cozy. Learn how to make brown butter here — it’s so easy!
Tips for making healthy orange pumpkin muffins
- Follow the recipe. The best way to ensure the success of these easy pumpkin orange muffins is to follow the recipe and use the exact ingredients as written (unless I note specific substitutes).
- Make sure your eggs are at room temperature. If your eggs are too cold you risk the butter coagulating. To bring your eggs to room temp, simply place them in a bowl of warm water for 3-5 minutes before you use them.
- Do not overmix the batter. If you overmix batter you’ll end up with muffins that are more dense and gummy instead of fluffy and soft.
- Use fresh baking soda. If your baking soda is older than 3 months, I suggest grabbing a new one for best baking results.
Freeze them for later
These healthy pumpkin orange muffins are freezer-friendly! Simply wrap muffins individually in freezer-safe bags or store them in a large freezer bag. When you’re ready to enjoy them, reheat for 30-45 seconds in the microwave or simply thaw them at room temperature.
More pumpkin recipes to try
- Healthy Pumpkin Bread with Maple Glaze
- Mini Paleo Pumpkin Pies with Gingerbread Cookie Crust
- Baked Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cups
- The Best Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls You’ll Ever Eat
- Vegetarian Spinach Pumpkin Lasagna
Get all of my pumpkin recipes here!
I hope you love these amazing brown butter pumpkin orange muffins! If you make them be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked them. Enjoy, xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Brown Butter Pumpkin Orange Muffins with Orange Glaze
Ingredients
- For the wet ingredients:
- ⅓ cup butter*
- 1 heaping cup pumpkin puree
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- ½ cup honey (or sub pure maple syrup)
- ⅓ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
- Zest from 2 large oranges
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- For the dry ingredients:
- 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat flour**
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon allspice
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Optional:
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips (or your favorite chocolate chips)
- For the glaze:
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons orange juice, plus more to thin if necessary
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with muffin liners and spray the inside of the liners with nonstick cooking spray to prevent sticking.
- *Brown your butter. Add butter to a saucepan and place over medium high heat. The butter will begin to crackle and then after a couple minutes, foam. Make sure you whisk constantly during this process. After a couple of minutes, the butter will begin to brown and turn a nice golden amber color on the bottom of the saucepan. Continue to whisk and remove from heat as soon as the butter begins to brown and give off a nutty aroma. Immediately transfer the butter to a medium bowl to prevent burning. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes or until cool enough to touch.
- In a large bowl, add the pumpkin puree, eggs, honey, orange juice and zest, and vanilla extract. Whisk together until smooth.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together the whole wheat pastry flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir in the cooled brown butter and mix until batter is just combined. Divide batter evenly between the muffin liners.
- Bake for 23-27 minutes or until the tester comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Allow muffins to cool in the pan for a few minutes, then remove and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the orange glaze: in a small bowl, mix together the powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon orange juice and zest smooth. Add more orange juice to thin glaze if necessary, but you do want it thick. Spoon about ½ tablespoon glaze onto each muffin or dip muffin tops into the bowl. Place on a wire rack to set the glaze. Enjoy! Makes 12 muffins.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
These are so good! Definitely added the chocolate chips, and I love the combo of pumpkin and fresh orange – delicious!!!
The best combo!!
My family loved these delicious and healthy muffins. I did not have oranges on hand, so I used apple cider instead as well as pecans. It is amazing the flavors it added to this already delicious recipe. Thank you.
Perfect! So glad they were a hit!
I’m a little confused, despite the name, there is no brown sugar in it, right?
Hi! The title is “brown butter” not brown sugar 🙂
Loved this recipe! Perfect for the holiday season. I did sub GF flour (King Arthur measure for measure) and it turned out perfectly. I also realized after making the batter that I didn’t have muffin pan liners – oops! I baked in a loaf pan for 45 minutes at 350 and it turned out great!
Amazing! Glad it turned out as a bread!
I substituted the flour for Trim Healthy Mama Baking Blend (gluten free) and these muffins were still to die for! I did everything else as written. My husband, who “hates” all things pumpkin, even ate half of a muffin!
Fabulous! I am SO glad these turned out amazing for you and your husband is LOVING them!
This muffins sound and look delicious. I would love to bake them but I need a little bit of help on the flour. I mill my own flour and would like to know how much of it do I use. I have soft white, hard red, spelt and einkorn. Thanks Susie
Hi Susie – The full recipe (the amount of flour) is listed in the recipe card, is that what you are asking?
Thank you very much, I shall try this recipe.
I made this recipe and they are the best cupcakes I’ve made. They are delicious and another thing, this is the first time ever my cupcakes don’t stick to the little cupcake paper wrapper. Thanks a bunch!
hi Monique, just wondering whether I could possibly use flax eggs or chia eggs in this recipe?
Hello! I haven’t tested these with flax or chia eggs so I can’t be sure, but another commenter did and said it worked out. Let me know how it goes!
Hi Monique, I was just wondering whether I could use Greek yogurt or applesauce in place of the butter/coconut oil?? (if so, the same amount?)
Hi Vanessa – I haven’t tested this recipe without the butter/coconut oil. The brown butter really adds a pop of flavor in these muffins and I would highly recommend sticking to the recipe. Hope you enjoy!
Muffins are too fussy for me, so I made this as a loaf instead. I poured the batter into a standard loaf pan and baked it at 350 for about 50 minutes with some baking sugar sprinkled on top instead of the glaze. The pumpkin flavor is definitely subtle compared to the orange. All around, lovely.
Ahhh this sounds amazing. So glad you’re a fan!
Should the butter be unsalted or salted?
You can use either but I prefer salted!
These might be the best pumpkin muffins I have ever made! They were so warm and full of fall spices. Sometimes I find that there is not enough spice in pumpkin muffins/bread but these were just right! The addition of orange juice/zest made it even better and the batter smelled just like the holidays. I used half oat flour and half wheat flour and they turned out great – nice and fluffy! I will definitely be making these again.
Made these muffins last weekend with the intention of using up a large can of pumpkin puree I had in my pantry. I also intended to freeze the majority of them for my freezer stash. I did use flax egg which was successful (if you are vegan or need to leave out egg for whatever reason). Disclaimer I did not make the glaze since I didn’t think it would work well to freeze on top of the muffins… but I was surprised how mild the orange flavor wound up being in the final product. The muffins were definitely good but I would love to have a nice burst/stronger orange flavor without necessarily adding the sugar of the glaze.
These are incredible! I wanted a gluten free option but was fresh out so I decided to use 1 cup oat flour and 1 cup of rolled oats and it turned out perfectly! My house now smells like a beautiful fall day 🍁
Happy that worked well and that you loved these! SO perfect for fall, right?? 🙂
My young kids ate this up super quickly, even without the glaze, thank you!
So happy to hear that! Yay!
Perfect! I thought that nothing could surprised me when it comes to pumpkin and then Ive made these – so so damn good, I added chocolate chips and with orange glaze and all Spice these taste like orange matcha cookies. Just delicious and my boys love it!😀
These are delicious! Enough of sweet, packed with lots of Vitamin C and they will leave you full enough to go on with your day, full of energy!
The perfect breakfast or snack!
My kids and I made these as mini muffins with the chocolate chips – delicious! We baked them for about 18 min for mini muffins. Thanks for all of your delicious muffin recipes!
Perfect! Sounds amazing!
Can I make this vegan?
Feel free to use vegan butter or coconut oil and try them with flax eggs. Just note that I haven’t tested them with vegan eggs!
With only 1/2 c honey and 1/3 c orange juice I found these muffins lacked the sweetness I would expect in a muffins. I pureed my own pumpkin and don’t know if that was a factor. I frequently reduce sugar in the muffin recipes I make but I think 1/2 c. brown sugar or more honey would help this recipe. Perhaps they will be more appealing with the glaze!
Hmmm the 1/2 cup of honey should make these plenty sweet, but the glaze definitely adds another level of sweetness! Let me know if you give them another try with the glaze 🙂
These are the most AMAZING muffins ever!! I followed the recipe exactly and added chocolate chips to half the batch — definitely add chocolate chips to ‘em!! They’re super moist, and even though my glaze was a little on the thin side, it added a great flavor. I was told they were the best thing I’ve ever baked, and I bake a lot, so I can’t recommend them enough!!
So happy to hear that! One of my fav muffins, too 🙂
So yummy! Not too hard. The amount of pumpkin needed also pairs perfectly with the pumpkin snickerdoodles.
Yes! Great idea to make both 🙂
This is such a tasty twist on a classic pumpkin bread, and it makes your whole house smell like Christmas while baking! I followed the recipe to a T, I decided to make it in a glass loaf pan. I reduced the cooking temp to 325 and baked for about 55 minutes. Absolutely perfect and even better the next day.
Absolutely! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
These are so so good! My one year old son loved them too!
Love that! Such a great snack or breakfast 🙂
The most delicious muffins I’ve had .. of course until I make your next ones lol!!! I had great success with using king Arthur’s gluten free flour, and dairy free butter. These turned out sooo fluffy and such an amazing flavor of orange and pumpkin. I added a 1/2 teaspoon of Trader Joe’s apple cider jam to the inside and it was thanksgiving dessert in one muffin. Thank you for sharing these with us ♥️
I’m glad the gf flour worked out well! Such a great breakfast or snack 🙂
Delicious with the glaze but also on their own. My 13 month old gobbled them up!
Hearty muffin with nice fresh flavors from orange zest and juice. I chose to add chocolate chips to half the batch. Easy recipe to follow and delicious fall treat to share with friends. Thank you!
I followed the recipe exactly and they were absolutely delicious! The orange flavor compliments the pumpkin and brown butter! Yummy yummy 😋
So glad you loved these!
These are probably the best muffins I have ever made. I do cook a lot, and baking isn’t my favorite but I do it. Anyhow….you need to try these. I had crystallized ginger so I added little bits of that to 6 of them and a chocolate square (didn’t have chips) to the other 6. Glaze was amazing – do not skip. Well done Monique! Wow! Can always count on your recipes. ❤️
So happy to hear that! Love the idea of crystallized ginger – so delicious.
This recipe is a WINNER. So delicious. I did half the batch with chocolate chips and half without, and I recommend going all in on the chocolate chips. YUM!
Perfect! Love that 🙂
These muffins are SO delicious! I did half with the the glaze and half with chocolate chips. Trying to stop my husband (and myself!) from eating them all at once! Thanks again Monique 🙂
Perfect! So glad you love them!